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The age of the existing equipment
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Proximity to other parks/play equipment
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Gaps in the system
The expected life associated with a typical playground unit is 15 to 20 years, based on industry standards. As playground equipment ages, the risk of failure to various components of the playground structure increases. The 2014 enhanced capital budget allocated $2M from 2018 funding for the installation of accessible playground equipment. There remains a significant gap in funding to address replacing all removed playgrounds. The funding gap brings into question what level of service is expected, and how that will impact funding requirements. Level of service can be considered by several factors for playgrounds:
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Accessibility of playgrounds to users
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Number of parks with playgrounds
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Size of playground equipment installed
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Safety of playgrounds for users
Option ‘A’
Option ‘A’ entails the eventual replacement of all playgrounds that are currently in the system or have been removed to date. The existing equipment would be replaced with small, medium and large, CSA/AODA compliant units. The combined total of existing and removed play units is 148.
Option ‘B’
Option ‘B’ entails the overall reduction in the number of playgrounds to 125 units. This reduction represents the elimination of play units that are in close proximity to another play unit, or is a play unit in a park that is on the park disposition list and a consolidation of units at one site.
The reductions identified in Option B will rationalize redundancy in play units that have been installed over the years as the park system has developed. A case in point is a number of small playgrounds that develop in a cluster of parks that in some cases are across the street from one another or are within a block of each other. In these cases it is possible to eliminate a unit completely without compromising distribution as per the Official Plan. See Appendix F If playground replacements are not funded parks with playground equipment that have already been removed will remain without a playground equipment until funding has been identified. In addition, a number of playground units will likely have reach failed condition earlier than expected or in the near future and will need to be taken out of service. These playgrounds may remain out of service for an extended period, possibly leading to deficient service delivery and reputational impacts. From a finance perspective there is an estimated cost savings of $5,369,352 in capital by consolidating playgrounds in the City
The use of safety surfacing under and around play equipment is required for impact attenuation as per the CSA guidelines. Staff from Parks, Asset Planning and the CAO’s office worked together to adapt the Corporate Enterprise Risk Measurement tool for use specific to playgrounds. Overall rubber surfacing was shown to be least prone to failure. In general, rubber surface based playgrounds were the most expensive when considering only initial capital outlays. They did however exhibit the lowest ongoing operating and maintenance type costs over the life of the asset, and the lowest risk for use. Over the lifecycle of the playground (approximately 20 3 of 61